Winter's Redemption [winter soldier//Bucky Barnes AU]

Chapter Twelve

She glared at the ground in anger. "Fine. But if I hear or see anything that means you could be hurt, I'm coming after you whether you like it or not." She huffed.

"Ok, whatever," I replied, starting off in the direction of the gunshots. I took two steps before she spoke again.

"Be careful." She warned, and I froze, my eyes narrowing in confusion. I turned on my heels, not knowing what to say. Eventually I found the words I was grasping for.

"Be careful?" I echoed, frowning deeply in skepticism, and she nodded.

"Yeah. I don't want to lose my only ally."

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STEVE'S POV

I walked next to Tasha, towards the commotion. My shield was strapped to my arm. Civilians were running around, trying to get away, and I hurriedly motioned for them to run inside.

"Come on! Get inside, everyone! Stay hidden!" I yelled. Some civilians thanked me and ran inside, and others panicked and kept running. I felt a tinge of annoyance- I can't save everyone if they don't listen.

"Go! I've got them!" Natasha called, gesturing to all the civilians. I nodded and ran closer to the noise, rushing to hide behind the corner of a building and look around the corner of the wall. From what I could see, it looked like there were ten men with heavy machine guns targeting four S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Taking a closer look, it didn't surprise me to see that the men with machine guns had Hydra logos on their sleeves, but it infuriated me when I saw that there were three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents laying between the two groups, unmoving and splattered with blood.

Suddenly another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was shot down by Hydra, and I dove out from behind the wall, rolling skillfully on my shield and ducking behind the remaining line of defense. I counted to three and stood up, tossing my shield like a frisbee and hitting three of the Hydra agents smack in the chest. The ones I hit stumbled backwards, falling rather clumsily from the cars they were standing on, and their ugly friends began firing in retaliation. I lifted my shield immediately and blocked the bullets, the battered agents behind me aiming their guns towards the Hydra men with renewed hope.

One of the Hydra men that I knocked down struggled to his feet, and out of the corner of my eye I watched as he growled and launched a hand grenade in my direction. I lunged to catch it and threw it back just as it exploded, injuring five of the Hydra men and knocking me off of my feet. One of their stray bullets grazed my arm and I cursed, clenching my teeth as blood began trickling from my torn flesh. I stood up, now thoroughly ticked off, and threw my shield as hard as I could at the guy who had launched the grenade. The idiot fell over and grabbed two of his friends while trying to stay upright, dragging them down as well. I ran towards them while I had the chance and engaged in hand to hand combat.

One threw a punch- I ducked and grabbed his wrist, judo flipping him to the pavement. Someone kicked me in the stomach and I grimaced, turning around and punching his throat. He gagged and did a roundhouse kick to my chest, knocking me over, and I hit the sidewalk hard. I grabbed his legs and yanked him to the ground, punching him in the head to knock him out. The last guy grabbed me in a headlock and I kicked my legs over his head, bringing him down on the rough pavement next to all of his buddies. His skull hit the ground with a sickening crunch, and it was lights out for him.

Natasha can running around the corner a moment later and shot down the other two guys. It was starting to turn in our favor, but suddenly thirty fresh Hydra agents rounded the corner, with guns bigger than my arms. I groaned in exasperation and scooped up an abandoned machine gun from the street, turning and firing into the crowd.

I shot endlessly, and so did Natasha. Tony and Sam arrived at some point and began to shoot some down, but more came. It was like an endless stream of them. Some had grenades, others had flash-bombs. If I lost focus for even a minute, I'd get blown up. 

"I hate these guys!" Tony remarked in our ears. I nodded in agreement, still fighting.

"Call it, Cap!" Sam yelled, swooping in and sending two agents flying into a nearby building. I sighed.

"We can't just leave them here. Try and take a flank and surround them!" I called to everyone. Natasha nodded at me, and Sam and Tony copied. I shot down two men and threw a rolling grenade back at the Hydra agents. We moved to attempt to shift the battle, but the Hydra agents stood locked shoulder-to-shoulder like Roman legionnaire soldiers, and we couldn't get through.

"Any other ideas, boys?" Natasha asked. I racked my brain for ideas but none came to mind.

But suddenly, bullets came in from the right, taking out tens of soldiers before I could even blink. But it wasn't the accuracy of the shots that made me freeze.

It was the metal hand holding the gun.

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